Electric meter protecting cabinet



Jan. 12, 1932. J. SACHS ELECTRIC METER PROTECTING CABINET Original Filed Aug. 13, 1925 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 v Li hi Jan. 12, 1932. SACHS 1,841,213

ELECTRIC METER PROTECTING CABINET Original Filed Aug. 13, 1925 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 ATTORNEY Patented Jam 12, 1932' 'UNITED STA TES PATENT .DFFIQE rosnrnsacns, or waste HARTFORD, oonnncrrcu'r were men rno'rne'rme canines Application flied August 13, 1925, Serial No. 49,886. Renewed. Eovember 9, 1831.

The object of the invention is-to save expense in the house entrance equipment of metered electric services, where the meter and main switch or other parts on the supply side of the meter are required to be armor-clad or terior of the sealed metal box or casing which encloses the main, entrance switch or the fuses. In such apparatus as heretofore I made, the end wall of the box is formed with a notch or opening'cut to fit the particular meter chamber which was to project into it, and the accommodation of such box to the many different shapes and sizes of meter terminal chambers was accomplished by making such end wall, or at least a portion of; it, removable so that it could be taken out and substituted by any one of many other end walls or portions of end walls each of which had a different shape of opening cut in it to fit some'particular meter terminal chamber. This has been the common way of connecting a given switch box to any kind offmeter terminal chamber, by a theft-proof junction, but this way was expensive, par

t-icularly for the manufacturer of the boxes, who was obliged to not only make all these specially out parts but was also obliged to tie up his capital in keeping in stock the whole assortment, and it involved a like expense on the dealers and installers of these boxes for similar reasons. The expense as well as the inconvenience of the described practice is -eliminated according to this invention by providing a single wall structure which is easily adjusted to accommodate satisfactorily any one of various meters on the market or in common use and which can be made very cheaply, the advance in cost over a non-adjustable end wall being negligible compared to the substantial savings which are accomplished.

.The improvement is made possible by my discoverythat of all of the standard meters of the type referred to, except one, the terminal chambers areof such shape and width that they can be entered, more or less, but yet sufficiently, into an opening of a particular" width provided of course that this opening is of sufficient depth to accommodate the.

enough to occupy the full width of the opening, which is all that is necessary. I utilize this discovery by making the meter-receivmg opening in the box, or the removable end wall or other portion thereof of the particular width referred to and of the maximum depth that is necessar and by providing such opening witha red iicer plate, which can be adjusted depthwise of the box or opening so as to close up the gap when cham ers of less than maximum depth areentered therein and also and by making other revisions for the special accommodation 0 the one smaller meter, above referred to as the single exception, or *for others like it. Such a wall struc ture can be cheaply produced as above stated and serves all the purposes of the more elaborate system now in use. V

In accordance with the foregoing, the invention consists in the principle of arrangement and general designfrepresented in its preferred form in; the accompanying drawings, wherein- Figure 1 is a broken out perspective of a service entrance switch and meter having the invention applied 7 Figure 2 an enlarged perspective of the end walll of the box when serving as a blank end wa 1;

Figure 3 an interior perspective of the same construction when adjusted to accommodate- The box may be assumed to be constructed as customary for service entrance installations and may enclose the usual switch and fuse, or either alone, and the switch may be of any design and have the usual exterior operating handle as shown. The box will be understood to be secured to the wall of the building or other support, and the meter directly adjacent to it and usually above it, with its terminal chamber projecting into the interior of the box through the appropriate opening and with the service wires entering, and the load wires leaving, the box through appropriate conduits or pipes fixed in the box Walls and with all the connections between the switch and meter located and made within the box, so that when the cover erably removably attached to the box of the latter is closed and sealed, as shown in Fig. 1, all the service side parts will be shut up and protected. The arrangement referred to is common in the art as above stated and needs no detailed description.

The well through which the terminal chamber of the meter projects into the box is herein, for convenience, termed the end wall, but without limitation to its relation to the rest of the box. This wall is Bretody so that it can be taken out when the meter connections are being made. This is desirable as a matterof convenience, and the same convenience will obviousl be served whether the whole end wall of t e box is removed, or merely a part or section of it. Inthe present case, the whole wall, marked 1, is removable and is connected to the box side walls by means which enable the removal to be easily made.

This connection comprises the ribs and lugs 2 pressed into the box walls which fit corresponding grooves and holes 3 formed in the side flanges of the end wall. This means of attachment is in accordance with the disclosure of my prior Patent 1,458,728; the Wall can only be removed by opening the box cover; but other well connections may also be used; screws are also used in the case in hand, as shown at 4, to secure the end wall in place. When only a section of the whole wall is removable corresponding provisions can of course be made for the secure attachment of the removed portion, so that the connections to the meter can be made without the inconvenience which the presence or" the wall would produce. But as above stated the removability of the end wall is preterable only and not essential to obtain the principal benefits of the invention. For the purpose of this specification and the claims a part of a wall, less than the whole wall, is included within the term end wall.

The meter receiving opening 5 in the'end wall 1 may be and preferably is initially occupied by a knockout section 5, which is joined to the rest of the wall by a line of weakness, or a. partially out line as customary for knockouts. Preferabl a. second interior knockout section 6" is'simi arly formed within the first. The knockout section 6', when removed, forms an opening 6. I do not herein broadly claim as part of m knockout'sections therein for providing meter receiving openings, as this forms the subset-matter of my co ndin application for liox for Enclosin E ectrica Appurtenances, Ser. No. 578,342 hled July 29, 1922.

When the boxis designed for the meters hereinafter mentioned, the width of the opening 5 left in the end well by removin the knockout section 5 is 4f; inches, an the depth, i. e. the dimension perpendicular to the box back wall, is 2 th inches; said width is the particular width above referred to which will be fully occupied by practically all of the various styles of meter terminal chambers, and the depth just stated is equal to or slightly greater than the maximum depth of any'terminal chamber that will fit an opening of this width. When the interior knockout 6 only is removed, the width of the opening at its widest part is 3% inches and its depth 1 inches. These dimensions, and also the particular shape of this opening, are suited to fit the single particular style of meter noted above as the single exception. When neither knockout section is removed, the wall resembles the usual blank end wall, Fig. 2, commonly supplied for closing the open ends of these boxes and can be iised for the same purpose.

For changing the effective depth of the opening 5' I provide a shutter or reducer plate 7. In accordance with the invention the reducer plate 7 is relatively adjustable, and it is secured in relation to the end wall in any suitable way as for instance b slot and screw connections directly clamping it to the inner face of the wall as indicated at 8. When this kind oi? adjustment is used the threaded holes in the wall are bossed out wardly as shown in Figure 2 so as to make a long screw hole in which the ends of the screws will not be accessible for turning so as to he releasable 'from the exterior. The range of do thwise adjustment oithe reducer plate is sn cient, on 'theone hand, 'tdnncov er the whole of the larger opening 5 and, on the other, to cover as much of it as may be necessary for accommodatin the shallowest Tm meter chamber that will lit t at larger open ing. The round notch on the outer edge of the reducer plate is merely to provide clear ance for the usual seal or locking device which is commonly passed throngh the hole in the end wall and a corresponding hole in the box cover.

Fig. 4 shows several of the different st les of meters in connected relation to the ox and illustrates how they all cooperate with present in-' vention a meter service box en wall having lll the new end wall structure to make a proper junction. The difierent positions of the reducer plate will be noted. It will be observed that meters Nos. 9 and 13, known in the trade as Westinghouse and Sewickley A both occup the full width of the larger openin A though meters marked 10, 11 and 12, nown as General-Electric I-l4, Sangamo H-2 and Duncan M respective ly, have wider terminal chambers than the others, it will be seen that these meters also occupy the full width of the respective openings 5 by virtue of the curvature at the lower corners oi their terminal chambers. The terminal chamber of met-er No. 14, known as Westinghouse Q. P occupies the whole of the interior or smaller knockout opening 8 which, as above stated, is specially made for this small sized meter. In each case the re ducer plate has been set to suit the depth of its associated terminal chamber and the combination of this plate with the knockouts thus affords a complete and practical adaptation of the box to any of the standard meters. it will be appreciated that if there were other meters having still different shapes or sizes oiterminal chambers. further knockout sections could be formed in the end wall to accommodate their width, the reducer plate being used as necessary for adjusting the depth of the opening to suit the particular' chamber. For chambers of greatest depth of no reducer plate need be used, if the depth of the largest knockout opening has been made of proper value.

When the described end wall structure has been used for adapting a box to a particular meter and it is thereafter desired to close up the end oi? the box completely, a supplemental closure plate can be employed for the purpose, and can be clamped in position by the screws 8. A simple rectangular plate of proper dimensions can be used for this purpose, or a plate of the shape indicated at in Figures 5 and 6 can beused. This plate is adapted to be slipped in between the wall and the reducer plate and clamped in place by the latter, Fig. 5. The open slots 16 are for accommodating the clamp screws 8. This, same closure plate is so constructed that it can be used to re-adapt a box to a Westinghouse 0. B. meter (shown at 14) when necessary, as, for instance, after the large knockout 5 has been-removed'in accommodation 5 to one of thelarger meters. For this pur ose it, is provided with a knockout section 1 of the same dimensions as the knockout 6", and

v bv the removal of this knockout 17, the box a will'obviously be adapted to the smaller size terminal chamber and give the same protection against tampering, as was afiorded by the adjustment represented at 14 in Fig. 4, The closure plate 15 also has the semi-circular notch in its outer edge to accommodate the box seal.

Figures 7 ,8 and 9 illustrate a modification of the adjustment and clamping means for the reducer plate, intended-to make it even more difiicult to loosen the plate from outside the box. In this case the bolt heads are on the outside of the box, but keyed to it by means of the key-lugs 18 formed on the bolt shanks. 'The key-lugs tit in any one of the series of keywa-ys formed in the slots of the reducer plate according to the several required adjustments, so that when in place, with the nuts and lock washers applied, the bolts cannot be turned or unscrewed from outside the box even though their heads are externally exposed. @rdinarily such precautions as this are not necessary, and accordingly the simpler form of adjustment first above described is preferred.

From the foregoing description, it will be observed that the single wall structure, having the appropriate opening or openings, and the reducer plate, takes the place of the whole series of end walls or adapter plates heretofore considered necessary for the accommodation of a given switch box to different metors, and the saving of expense above referred to will now be apparent. It will be understood also, as abovesta'ted, that the :iorm or the invention illustrated in the drawings is the preferred form, and that the principles illustrated by it can be embodied in other and di'lferent forms without departing from the sense of the vfollrwving claims;

Claims: 5

l. A meter protector casing including a meter adapting end wall having an aperture of a size and shape to substantially fit the largest of a series of meter terminal casings, a movable plate, and means for securing the movable plate to the said wall in selected positions with reference to the said aperture to vary the size thereof to fit the other meters of the series.

2. The combination of the end wall of a meter-protecting service box having an opening therein, the width of which is suited to be completely occupied by any one of several standard meter terminal chambers, and the depth of which is adapted to accommodate the terminal chamber of greatest depth a reducer plate, and means connecting the reducer plate with the end wall and permitting the adjustment of the said plate depthwise of said opening to make the same conform to a chamber of less de th.

'3. The com ination of a meter-protecting switch box having an end wall directly and removably connected to the ends of the box side walls, said end wall having an opening therein, the width of which is adapted to be completely occupied by any one of several difierent styles ofmeter terminal chambers and the depth of which is adapted to accommodate the chamber of greatest depth, a reducer plate, and an adjustable bolt and slot I connection between the said reducer late and the said end wall, whereby the re ucer plate isadjustable to make the end wallopen gig ionform to a terminal chamber'of less The combination of claim .2 in. which the end wall containing the opening is removable from the box body to facilitate the makin of the meter connections.

5. T e combination of claim 2 in which the reducer plate is secured to the end wall by means operable only on the inner side of said wall. I

p be secured over the meter-receiving opening, I

6. The combination of claim 2 in which the opening in the-end wall is initially oc-- cupied by a knockout section.

7. The combination of claim 2 in which the end wall is provided with more than one knockout section one of which conforms to the dimensions referred to in claim 2, and the other of which conforms to a meter terminal chamber of different dimension.

8. The combination of..claim 1 in which the openin referred to is initially occu ied by a knoc out section and said knoc out section contains a similar knockout section.

9. The'elements of claim 1 in further combination with a closure plate adapted to be secured in place over the meter-receiving opening. 7

10. The elements of claim 1 in further combination with a closure plate adapted to be secured in place over the meter receiving openin by the same means which connects the re uceri plate with the end wall.

11. The elements of claim 1 in further combination with a closure plate adapted to said closure latehaving a knockout section. 12.'The e ements of claim 1 in further combination with a knockout section initially filling the openingand a'third plate adapted to be secured in place over the said openin In testi'monywhereof, I have signed this specification.

JOSEPH SACHS. 

